On Bob Costas and Gun Control

Bob Costas is one of my favorite sports announcers. I freely admit this. I know he’s one of those announcers that spark either hatred or fanaticism from sports fans; my response is fanaticism. My preference is baseball, but I could sit and listen to Costas call any game.

This past week, after the tragic news of murder/suicide from the Kansas City Chiefs, Costas opened his mouth and agreed with this article that calls for increased gun control, arguing that if we had more gun control laws, Jovan Belcher and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive. That’s quite an assumption!

He could have killed her with a baseball bat. Should we make baseball bats harder to buy?

He could have killed her with a tire iron. Maybe we need more tire iron laws.

He could have killed her with a pickle jar. (click the link and scroll down)

He could have run her over with his car. Shall we outlaw cars?

A man his size could have killed her with his bare hands.

The point in all of this is that if Belcher wanted to kill Kasandra Perkins, he didn’t need a gun to do it. But when he used a gun to do this awful deed, gun grabbers jump at the opportunity to call for less freedom through more gun control laws.

As if criminals obey those gun control laws.

And now even Bob Costas has jumped on the ignorance bandwagon. I’m glad his political views don’t outweigh his ability to do his job. Costas certainly has a right to his own opinion; and, if permitted by his employer, he has a great platform for pushing his message.

But that doesn’t mean he’s right.

Gun control laws, very simply, are a form of prohibition. As I’ve said a number of times before, prohibition very simply does not work. We are fools if we let ourselves believe that gun control laws protect anyone but criminals. Gun control isn’t about guns; it’s about control.